The House That Built Me
by itsLisey
Summary: Jane and Maura are expecting their first child. Three months away from giving birth, the pair are looking for the best home to begin raising their family in together. While Maura is fairly lenient on where to bring up their kids, Jane has a list and she isn't budging. Maura decides to spend the rest of her leave from work searching for their perfect home. She finds it.
1. Chapter 1

"So?" asked Maura hopefully. Her eyes fell on Jane. They were standing in the middle of a large foyer with a spiral staircase to their right. Maura had fallen in love with it the moment they walked in the door. She pressed a hand to her swollen stomach. _Calm down, baby,_ she thought, rubbing gently. A light kick thumped against her hand.

Jane shrugged, her finger glossing over the staircase railing. "I don't know." she said. "I just don't think this is it." Her response earned a loud sigh from Maura, which was then echoed by Jane. "Well I'm sorry, Maura, but I want our kid to grow up in a really good house. This doesn't feel right, yet."

"We have_ three_ more months, Jane,"

"If he's on time! He is a Rizzoli, Maura. I'm betting on him being late."

"I'm praying that he isn't."

"You're not religious,"

"I would pray to a God made of spaghetti noodles if it meant being able to fit into a pair of strappy heels again." Jane rolled her eyes. "Come on, honey. We need to make a decision and soon. This house is in a great area. There is a huge yard. Four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms. It's not too big. There's a pool. The school district is phenomenal. What is it missing?"

Sighing, Jane sat down on the steps. "A tree, for one thing."

"There is a tree right out front."

"No, like, a tree."

"I'm fairly certain it is not an artificial tree."

"A tree for a treehouse. We had one growing up. Me and Pops built it together. Frankie helped a little, too, but he mostly just brought us sandwiches."

Maura waddled towards the steps and lowered herself down, bracing herself on Jane's shoulder for balance.

"So we need a tree. The last house had a nice tree, you know."

"Didn't have a big enough porch."

"A porch?"

"Yeah, you know, for in the summer. We need a porch swing. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to have family nights out on the porch? Ma used to grab a bunch of board games and some lemonade and we would sit on the swing and wait for Pops to come home. It was nice." She wrung her hands together. "Just, you know. It's a thing. I guess it's something I always imagined my house to have one day. Aren't there certain things that you want, too? I mean... more than a high ceiling and a walk in closet?"

Maura tapped her fingers against Jane's thigh. "Not really," she said quietly. "Our memories of childhood are different, Jane. You know that. I lived in a boarding school most of my life. I chose that. There wasn't..."

"I know." said Jane.

"These things are important to you, aren't they?"

Jane rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Yeah," she muttered. "They are. Sometimes I worry that I'm not going to be the best mom, you know? That I'll screw it up. It's pretty hard to live up to the example Ma set for me. She was the best, even if she drove me crazy. She just knew how to do everything. And I was happy. I want our kids to have the same kind of childhood me and my brothers had. Fun. Exciting. Loving. None of these houses feel like they could be home. I want to give them everything I had and everything you never got the chance to experience."

"You are going to be a wonderful mother," said Maura sternly. "Wonderful. There is no doubt in my mind. Wherever we live, wherever our lives take us."

"I'm sorry that I'm being so difficult about this."

"No, no, you're right. This place isn't the place for us."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," said Maura with a slight nod of her head. "Besides, there are too many white walls. One day our little boy is going to be a slightly bigger little boy and he will know how to hold a crayon. We don't need something this formal. But," Heaving herself forward, Maura stood and held out a hand for Jane. Jane took it and stood, pulling Maura into her chest and kissing the top of her head. Maura's words were muffled by Jane's chest, but still understandable. "I want you to make me a list, okay? All of the things you want in a house. While you're at work, I will house hunt online."

"Really?"

"Yes. But I want a detailed list, and I'm allowed to void at list three of your items if I don't agree."

"Well there goes at least two of my ideas already."

Laughing, Maura pulled back from Jane's chest to look up at her wife. "What were they?"

And with a wink, Jane smirked and turned away to walk out of the house. "Wouldn't you like to know, _sugartits._" she called behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Jane's List_

_1. Tree for treehouse building_  
_2. Porch large enough for a porch swing _  
_3. Big backyard for campouts in the summer_  
_4. Firepit area_  
_5. Lots of windows_  
_6. Separate shed to hold bikes and outdoor equipment. _  
_7. Room for a potential swimming pool_  
_8. Small enough to feel homey but big enough for our family to grow_  
_9. A fireplace in a family room big enough for movie nights and hosting holidays._  
_10. You, in our bedroom. Naked. Often._  
_11. Tree swing_  
_12. A place to build a sandbox_  
_13. Furnished basement_  
_14. A window seat _  
_15. A basketball hoop (Optional. We can always buy one.)_

She was reading the list for the twentieth time, but Maura still smiled at the special addition that Jane had added for Maura's benefit.

It had been three weeks. The house situation seemed hopeless; as Maura's stomach grew bigger still, their probability of getting into a house before the birth of their son seemed smaller and smaller. Not that it bothered Maura. They had a home that was perfectly adequate to bring a baby home to. It was simply a matter of she and Jane wanting to raise a child in a home they built together, rather than the home Maura purchased once she moved back to Boston.

Maura wiggled her ankles around and stretched. She was stiff. Without work, most of her days had been spent searching for the perfect home at the computer. It was a tedious job. She was trying to hit as many of Jane's points as possible, but somehow, there was always one or two left off the list, and it always seemed like something important. A fireplace but no window seat. A large backyard, but no tree. A porch, but the yard was too small to fit anything more than two lawn chairs and a table.

And, of course, some of the houses were simply not in a neighborhood that Maura was willing to move to. She was married to a cop. They had already memorized the crime rates in every area of Boston.

She sighed. It was nearly four o'clock. Jane wouldn't be home for hours. The last time the married couple spoke was early that morning when Jane called to let Maura know that she would be in interrogation all day.

Hard case.

_Long_ case.

Maura hoped it was a cracked case by the end of the evening.

"I think it's time for a drive," she said to Bass. He didn't budge, but Jo Friday bounded excitedly at her feet. His paws bounced off Maura's legs as he jumped back and forth between her and the door. "What? You want to come, pretty girl?" She was answered with a yelp, so Maura grabbed the leash that hung by the door and hooked it to Jo's collar. "Come on, then. Sorry Bass. I think it's best you stay here."

She loved driving. It was calming, relaxing. The time let her think. It gave her an exhilarating feeling of being motionless while moving all the same. Though it never made any sense to her, she could think clearer while being in a car, as though she was propelling herself forward into a new direction of thoughts.

The streets were pretty clear for early evening in Boston. She went through some of her favorite areas, stopping to turn down a side street and look around for any for sale signs on houses. By five thirty, Maura had a passenger seat full of ads, although one of them really appealed to her. She pulled off and parked, grabbing the stack and flipping through them.

At the first house she stopped at, she thought she hit the jackpot. It was two stories, with a wide front yard and a long driveway. Most of the houses on the street were well kept and colorful with rows of flowers and dark, moss green grass. It all appealed to her. The windows were fat and clean, stark white shutters laying against a powder blue colored side paneling. Even the porch was long and contained by a strong wooden fence. A porch swing would fit snugly in the far right corner.

_Perfect,_ she thought.

But the house held only three bedrooms with one bath. The pictures on the flyer were not nearly as pretty as the outside of the house. Most of the walls desperately needed a new paint job and moldings were popping from their spots. Two of three three bedrooms looked about as small as the walk in closet Maura was hoping to have. Most of the size of the house was taken up by a preposterously large kitchen and a medium sized living area. There was no fireplace, and from the looks of it, the large front yard resulted in a very small backyard.

Most of the houses seemed to follow the same pattern. It was reminiscent of her online research. Feeling utterly discouraged, and even more depressed at the thought of going back home and house hunting on the computer again, Maura continued to drive until she found herself in a vaguely familiar neighborhood.

She had been to the Rizzoli family home exactly two times. It wasn't enough to remember every detail, but it was enough for her to smile at the old, rickety basketball hoop that was leaning precariously against the garage door. She had come to pick Jane up on the way to the crime scene. Jane and Frankie were playing against one another. Just as Maura got out of the car, Jane jumped and the ball lifted from her fingertips and slipped through the net with a small whoosh. It took an extra five minutes to get Jane to stop teasing Frankie about how she had won, and another five minutes for her to gather all her things and get in Maura's car.

Oddly enough, it was one of Maura's favorite memories of Jane.

There was a note on the door. Her curiosity overriding her logical side, she stopped the car and climbed out, her hand holding onto Jo's leash. Jo was calm now. The drive had subdued her. She walked slowly next to Maura on the sidewalk, then up the drive, and Maura stopped in front of the sign taped on the door.

_**NO TRESPASSING.**_

_Bank owned property._

_To inquire about this property, please contact Bank of America at 781-555-6457. _

_**KEEP OUT.**_

She stepped back and walked onto the lawn in order to take a better look at the house. This was Jane's fantasy. It was her home, it was her ideal. The house was painted a blue-gray. White trim lined the roof and windows, accentuated nicely with a white iron fence wrapped around the border of the yard. Wide windows sat snugly against the front of the house. Even the front door had a line of frosted windows running along the frame of the door, giving a hazy few into the foyer of the house. You could just make out the shadow of the stairs that led up the the second floor.

Maura could see Jane here. She saw her, felt her. Her soul. Her spirit. Jane playing on the front lawn with Frankie and Tommy. Footsteps stampeding down the steps and across the grass, glasses of lemonade clinking together as the three Rizzoli children glared competitively across a game board. Did Jane ever plant flowers in the now bare front patch of dirt? How many times did she run outside in the morning to grab the mail or paper?

She walked back towards the sidewalk that led from the front steps to the driveway. In the last cement panel, she noticed three handprints. They were old and degraded, much too small to be adult hands. She knelt down as best she could and let her finger trace over the letters written beneath them; an initial for each name... _J, F,_ and_ T._

A warm feeling washed over her.

This place was Jane. It was a part of her.

It was home.


	3. Chapter 3

It was more than she could have asked for.

There had been a worried feeling buried deep inside her that, once he was born, she would feel empty; that she would feel as though something was taken from her, born with him, lost forever, a beautiful connection that only she, not even Jane, could truly understand, because he was inside _her_, part of _her._ She had been his home, his only home, for so long.

But she lost nothing.

She gained.

"He's so beautiful," murmured Jane, her lips pressed against his forehead. She pulled back to stare at his sleeping form once again. His eyes were shut. A curly mop of dark brown hair rested on his head. "You're so beautiful. Jesus, Maura. We're parents." A happy tear slipped down her cheek and splashed against Maura's arm.

"We are parents."

"We're going to be the best parents," said Jane quietly, nudging Maura to scoot so she could sleep on the bed. She let her arm wrap around Maura's shoulder and Maura leaned her head against Jane, the baby cradled between them. "Nobody is going to want to mess with our kid," she whispered. "They'll know that he has two super hot lesbian moms at home waiting to beat their ass."

Maura chuckled. _"Jane,"_

"And maybe one day," Jane grinned. "One day we can have a little girl, too, and these two will be best friends. But our girl can take care of herself. She won't need her big brother to protect her. She can do it,"

"She'll be a mini you,"

"Both of us." said Jane seriously. Maura blushed.

"Well I think we'll hold off on the daughter for a little while. I think I need a few days, at least."

Jane brushed some sweaty hair from Maura's brow and tucked it behind her ear. "Are you feeling okay?" Maura nodded. "Vincenzo Rizzoli, you have the strongest mom in the world." She didn't stop and give Maura a chance to laugh. "She is the best thing that will ever happen to you, you know. She was the best thing to happen to me," Jane let her finger stroke his hair. "The best thing in this whole world. She is the kindest and the most forgiving. Her cooking is out of this world. Literally. Half the time it's something I can't pronounce." Maura chuckled. "And she is smarter than you, always remember that. It will keep you out of trouble, I promise. She's brave, baby boy. And there is nothing she won't do for you. You're pretty lucky. Oh," Jane bent low to whisper into Vincenzo's ear. "I'll loan you the tits for a while, I guess,"

Though she tried her best not to, Maura was crying. She laughed as she cried, as silly as it was, and Jane rubbed calming circles on the smaller woman's shoulders, chuckling slightly as well.

"You're such a dork," said Maura through her laughter and tears. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Hey," Maura pointed towards her bag sitting on a chair across the room. "Can you get that for me?"

As Maura wiped the remaining tears, Jane grabbed her purse. She set it on the bed and let Maura shift the baby into her arms. While Jane rocked, Maura dug through the exceedingly large bag. She pulled a out a folder.

"I was going to wait until we were going home, but I think... you know what, just open it."

Vincenzo was placed back in Maura's arms and Jane tore open the envelope. She pulled out a thick stack of envelopes, which she eyed nervously.

"You got me paperwork," she said with a false grin. "Oh, I'm so excited."

"Read it."

Jane took a few moments. She sat down in the chair next to the bed. Maura's eyes bore into Jane as her own scanned the document. A few times she shook her head and made a small sound. Finally she held the papers up, confused, her forehead scrunched up.

"What is this?"

"It's a deed." Jane remained quiet. "To a house."

"You bought a house?"

"I bought a house."

_"What house?"_

"Jane, it has everything. There is a porch perfect for a swing. A huge tree in the backyard. There's already a treehouse up there, too, but we'll probably need to do some repairs. The yard is great. The neighborhood is wonderful. And the house, I think, you'll find to be in your liking as well. My only request is that we paint and do a little remodeling here and there. We have the money. It was... bank owned. They didn't ask for too much. It has been vacant for a few years."

"I... when..."

"It was finalized last week. I put in an inquiry about two months ago."

"But why didn't you..."

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted us to be able to bring Vincenzo home to it. Your mother has been helping me spruce it up a bit. Now I know we have been working at the nursery at home. That wasn't for nothing. Tommy and Lydia are going to move in. It's perfect. Lydia is due in a few months and that house has plenty of bedrooms. We already worked out a reduced rent. It helps them and us. I - "

"Slow down. What house did you buy? You did all this without talking to me?"

Maura bit her lip. "Please don't be angry. Just look at the address."

Reluctantly, Jane looked down. She scanned the page for an address. When she found it, her mouth dropped.

"Maura?"

"Yeah, it is."

"You bought my parents old house?" Maura didn't need to respond. Jane was staring at the address with a shocked expression on her face. "You bought my... you bought...it was still...we're moving there? We're going to live there?" Her wife nodded. "You did this for me? Maura, it's not a fancy house. I want you to love it, too."

"I do. I really do. It's perfect for us and I know it's the perfect home to raise children in. Look at how you turned out. Maybe it's lucky."

Jane gave a shy smile. "Yeah, well, it churned out Tommy, too." She stared back down at the page. "I can't believe you did this."

"Are you mad?" asked Maura nervously.

"No. _No._ I'm just... this is," she took a deep breath. "We're going to raise our kids there. Holy crap." She started laughing. "And Ma's okay with this?"

"She thought it was wonderful. I asked before I went into the deal. I didn't want her to be upset. She is going to stay at the house with Tommy and Lydia. Jane, I know what you're thinking. I didn't just do this for you. My intentions were rather selfish, I'll admit.. The moment I pulled up to that house, I could feel you there. I saw your handprint in the cement. I never had any of that and I want it. It's not a big house with fancy high ceilings, but it's home. It's nothing like where I grew up and that's what I love about it. It reminds me of you. It reminds me of who saved me from what could have been a very long life of loneliness. You became who you are to me while growing up in that house. That's it. That's home for us, because you're home for me."

Jane dropped the papers onto the table next to Maura's hospital bed and leaned down, gently grabbing Maura's face with her hands and resting their foreheads together.

"You are everything I don't know how to say," she whispered. "More than I could have ever asked for. Thank you, Maura."

"Thank you, Jane," Maura whispered back.

Vincenzo cooed.

* * *

**One more chapter after this.**

**Happy Tuesgay! New episode tonight.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

The car came to a slow stop in front of the house.

Jane hadn't looked up yet; she hadn't even realized that the car had ceased moving, because her eyes were downcast towards she and Maura's son, whose car seat was wedged in between the two in the backseat. It was her wife's fingertips dancing against her wrist that caused her to look up, and a small shiver ran down her spine.

She hadn't laid eyes on the house since she locked the door and walked to her car with the last box.

"Ma," Jane said quietly. "Mind if Maura and I go in first?"

Angela smiled and it was all the blessing Jane needed. Leaving the baby with her mother, Jane and Maura walked up the old driveway together. Maura handed Jane the key as they got to the front door.

"We didn't do much," she said. "Just the nursery. Everything else I thought we should do together."

The door creaked open.

The sentimental part of Jane wanted to lift Maura up and carry her over the threshold, but her inner child was far too excited at the prospect of being home. There was an energy building inside her that she hadn't felt since she was eight; the kind of energy that comes after a long vacation or a week at summer camp.

Jane wandered up the stairs. Just as she remembered, as her foot thumped against the fourth stair, it whined and squeaked. She paused here and smiled. Her mother never fixed that stair because she said it was the best alarm system that she had. Jane had learned many a times that her mother's ear was keenly tuned for the sound of that stair in the middle of the night. It was the sound of sneaking children.

Her bedroom was in the back of the house, tucked in a corner just across from the bathroom and next to the room Tommy and Frankie had shared for several years. She walked towards it in a kind of trance, her mind filled with the sounds of her youth; slamming doors, laughter, knocking, _dinner's almost ready, Janie, set the table!,_ books falling from her desk, the television blaring from the living room and coming in clear through her vent... her hand rested on the doorknob.

"This was my room." she said simply.

"I know," Maura responded. "Open it."

Jane did.

No longer were the walls a sickly yellow. The room was blindingly white with a red stripe stretching along the perimeter, painted perfectly in the middle of the wall. Little baseballs danced against the line all the way around. The carpet, accentuated nicely with the wall stripe, was a bright, vibrant red and so fluffy that Jane could feel her feet sinking down as she walked inside.

She couldn't stop herself from chuckling.

"Is this why you objected so hard to a Red Sox theme in the nursery at the house?"

Maura nodded. "I wanted this to be a nice surprise."

"It's so cool, Maura," muttered Jane as she looked around. She walked to the crib and picked up the teddy bear that she had bought for Maura when the pair went to their first baseball game together. "You sure you want to part with this?"

"I decided that Vincenzo could borrow it."

"How nice of you," said Jane with a smile. "You know, my bed used to be pushed up against that window." She pointed and crossed the room, gesturing for Maura to follow her. "See how this latch opens," Her fingers flicked the golden latch and she pushed with her shoulder. "Look down. It opens onto that little bit of roof, you see? But our treehouse is there. I used to sneak out by jumping from the roof to that branch right there. Never fell, not once. Climbed down the tree and out the yard."

Maura gaped. "Didn't Angela know?"

"Sure, after Tommy caught me one night and told on me. I think he was hoping Ma would move us rooms so he'd be in here. He was always jealous." They both slid from the window sill and Jane sunk down into the rocking chair, patting her lap for Maura to join her. Maura slid her arms around Jane's neck and rested their heads together. "You know, it's weird." said Jane quietly. "I never came back here. Not once. I was so mad at my dad, you know? I didn't want to come back here. I felt like I had been lied to for years, like their entire marriage was a sham. I thought it wouldn't feel the same, like it had been tainted."

"What had been tainted?"

"The house."

"That's not true."

"I know. But I was 35 years old and my parents were getting a divorce. I guess I've never wanted to look at how deeply it affected me. It's not supposed to when you're that old. I grew up here. I sat in this corner doing my homework. Me and my friend Georgia Hayes had our first beer sitting in front of that door because we wanted to be able to hear Ma coming up the stairs. I've climbed outta that window more times than I can count. And every night for years, Ma and Pops came up those stairs and said goodnight. I lived through something here. This is my story, their story. I thought I knew the ending until my parents divorced."

"Jane," said Maura softly, lifting her wife's chin. "This house built you, but it doesn't define you and it doesn't define your family. Endings change all the time because we have the ability to create new stories. That's what we're doing right here with Vincenzo. Come here," she stood and pulled on Jane's hand, dragging her back over to the crib. A multi-picture frame balanced above the crib. Jane hadn't noticed it before. The first photograph was grainy, but still clear. A young Angela and Frank stood at the sides of a crib. Jane, just a newborn with a mop of curly brown hair, laid with a sloppy smile on her face. The photograph slot beneath it was empty. "That was the beginning of your story." She dug through her purse and pulled out a photo that Angela had gotten printed for her before she came to the hospital. "This is the beginning of ours,"

The photo had been taken at the hospital. It was nearly identical to the photograph already on the wall. Jane and Maura were each at the sides of Vincenzo's hospital crib, his wrinkly face scrunched up with a small curve to his lips.

"I thought coming back here one day would fix me. I'd be whole again or something. Maybe I would figure out who I am... more than Jane the cop, Jane the daughter. But you're the reason I'm okay now." Jane looked up from the picture. "You make me whole."

Jane walked out of the room. Maura followed. They traipsed down the steps and Maura watched as Jane opened the front door, her hand waving Angela in.

"It's time for our son to come home." said Jane.

The two grabbed hands and walked down the drive to help Angela bring up the bags.

**Finished. **


End file.
